Per the boys in the loft (also known as RT, MrClean, and TheDotMack):

We’re trying to break a record of how many people can be logged in at the same time on January 1st! Be the 1000th Person to be online while 999 others are on at 1PM EST on Jan. 1st 2009, and win a $50 Starbucks Gift Card!

So come on ovah I’ll be there.  Message me and I’ll harass you personally!  Well at least for a little while.  I have an interesting New Year’s planned (oh baby do I ever!)  And I’m planning on winning the coffee … besides being a word whore, I’m also a coffee fiend.   Bottom line: let’s bring in the New Year together. I’ll wear cotton candy lip gloss at the kissing booth …

Mini ninjas. Christmas angels covered with playdoh and smothered in icing from decorating christmas cookies.Laughing and bargaining and fighting and fussing. Making up games from the land of  imagination; ninja-princess-mermaid-gymnast-fairy-reindeer-”Who’s from Whoville”.

This was the scene upon wearily entering my doorway
last night. Many times (too many for my liking) I’m
hitting the door running after a long day of work.
I think of them all day long and how I long to be
at home playing princess ninja. Life catches up and
there’s only so many hours in the day.

Clean clothes for school, lunches to be packed,
the Six and under hurricane has trashed
my otherwise tidy house. Cook and clean and
homework and all that “Mom” stuff. Too little
“Mommy” time. The time where nothing else
matters and I immerse myself in the world of hugs
and kisses and pictures for that very tiny last spot
on the refrigerator that is not filled with wonderful
artwork.

So. Last night we watched the 53rd showing of the Grinch
at Ninja house. (It’s a crowd favorite) Every single time,
my six year old and I cry. The four year old and two year
old are too busy fighting over who’s gonna be Cindy Lou Who
in the land of make believe. MY heart grew three sizes and
I remember what makes a good parent.

Being PRESENT in the present. Time spent. Full attention
with NO distractions. Giving me to them is all they want.
“Mommy play with us.” Favorite current game: run at mommy
full speed and jump on her (it’s the newest ninja tactic
they think the faster they run the more invisible it makes
them. They could be right) The lessons I learn from giving
them my attention are priceless.

They fight over toys and resolve it two minutes later.
Bicker and negotiate and then you hear a small “I love you”
said to each other and all is forgiven. Pretending there
are monsters to scare the two year old but then whispering
“I’d never let the monster get you cause you’re the baby
sister and it’s my job to protect you.” Pure and total
revelry in imagination and utter contentment with being
in the moment.

Isn’t that a lesson we can all learn? Christmas gifts are
lovely yes. But being “present”? THAT is something that
cannot be purchased at Tiffanys. Keep your blue box with
shiny things. I’m getting pink plastic jewelry for the
“Queen Princess Mommy Butterly Fairy Ninja”.
And it suits me.

Merry Christmas from the Ninja House. Wishing you affection,
attention, and lots of heartfelt hugs.

I challenge you to share your stories of hope, faith, joy, love, growth from pain … etc etc.  Let’s give a little back to  those who just might need a reason to celebrate.  This goes for people who are in recovery from ANYTHING here … (gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, another person, etc …) and for the people who love us recovering folk.

Stop by, write a comment, drink a cup of cheer. Or hot chocolate … but cheer doesn’t make my ass bigger.  Wait!!!  I hear big asses are in style this year … whatever.

I will post them ALL, write me a story, tell me all about it, send it here, or at soberandsassy@yahoo.com. TELL me … TELL US … we will listen.

Share a gift with another.  The gift of compassion and love. The gift of YOU.

We’ll be waiting.

Our hearts are hungry for a food that won’t come
We could make a feast from these crumbs
And we’re all staring down the barrel of a gun
So if your life flashed before you
What would you wish you would’ve done

Yeah… gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we’re dying

And if your plane fell out of the skies
Who would you call with your last goodbyes
Should be so careful who we live out our lives
So when we long for absolution
There’ll no one on the line

Yeah… gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start pickin it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we’re dying

Like we’re dying oh – like we’re dying [x2]

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live – like we’re dying

We never know a good thing till it’s gone
You never see a crash until it’s head on
All those people right when we’re dead wrong
You never know a good thing till it’s gone

Yeah… gotta start
Lookin at the hand of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start livin it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’
Gotta live like we’re dying

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we’re dying

Like we’re dying oh – like we’re dying [x2]

We only got
86 400 seconds in a day to
Turn it all around or throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em
While we got the chance to say
Gotta live like we’re dying
Live like we’re dying

Romantic love is the stuff of songs and emo poets who bleed tears on their laptops til they finally self flagellate themselves to sleep. Can’t live without you … Can’t breathe … Need you … Want you … won’t be complete without you. Really??? I mean really. Seriously? That’s the crushin, the lustin, the get your groove on-in and out, and out and in. I can go to the closest slushie machine at the local stop n shop and find a boy to crush on (well maybe not .. eww .. but you get the idea).

That can fade. Melt away. Hopefully to return, in a kindler and gentler form someday. That’s when the eye begins to wander again, the scratch that needs a itchin’ comes back to play. The unreal, the fantasy, the great lie. The knight in shining armor who has no halitosis, an eight inch girthy _______ (fill in the blank there are children on here), never hawks other hot chicks, and certainly ALWAYS sleeps in the wet spot.

Diggin the real kinda lovin’. The no matter what, I’m on your side kinda love. Let’s just “be” and chill and not have to say a word. The one you can wear no makeup around. Thinks your sexy in your pink fluffy robe, kind. Your soft place to land, friend when it counts, instigator when it counts more. The type that makes you wanna be a better you. First person you call, good news or not so. Irritates the hell outta ya, but chuckle nonetheless and tell all your friends what a freakin adorable dork you’re with. Comfortable silences and knowing glances. Body language says everything, no verbals required.

Loving someone is being the best you … you can possibly be. Stick-to-itiveness to me, stick to me ness, just stick. Stay. Be around. What I give my attention to flourishes like fertilizer to the big red muscle in the chest. Do what you say. THAT’s love. Mean what you say is even lovelier.

Verb, noun, adjective, fukkin dangling participle. Just do it. Feel it. BE IT. Love.

Whether happy, sad, angry, lost.  Feel it to the core of who you are.

Allow yourself the respect to be just where you are.

Be gentle with you.

Take care of your needs. Bubble baths, lay in bed, stay in your jammies all day.  Drink hot cocoa and gaze at your Christmas tree. Even if you’re alone; you’re in good company.  Take a walk in the crisp snow, make a snow angel, throw a snowball or two or ten.  If it’s warm where you are, go to the beach and breathe the saltiness. See a movie,   buy a trinket cause you like it, treat yourself to you.  Work out, meditate, stretch and feel the physical presence of you. Remember that if you don’t like yourself; no one else will.  Caress your own cheek, arm, neck, legs. Explore the gorgeousness of physicality.

Do you even know how amazing you are? Deep down? Underneath the crud of perception? People can freak about being alone. I like me, dig the moments of “me” time.  Find your center, light a candle, be still and open to find out who you really are. To breathe and feel and be and bask in the glory of Amy.  Make myself laugh; gentle lover in the climax of what is … me.  Waves of orgasmic self realization course through my spirit. You can do this too.  Allow your inner love to shine and be passionate about the reflection.

It’s time. If you’re reading this, it is time. Be.  Dig.  LOVE. Get off … on you.